Tag: Windows Server

Windows Server shrinks its footprint  

Posted on May 19, 2017 by - News

giantfootprintSoftware King of the World, Microsoft, has shrunk Windows Server’s footprint when you run it in Azure.

The slimmed down version of Windows Server is destined for use in Azure’s Managed Disks. This is a storage option that allows the creation of disks without first creating a storage account and without the need to manually assign a universal resource indicator.

Microsoft offers Managed Disks at 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 512GB and a terabyte, with the two smallest sizes a recent addition. But it looks like users had trouble squeezing Windows into the little ones, because Microsoft’s now announced it has “added a second set of Windows Server offerings with 30GB OS disks for Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012R2 and Windows Server 2016”.

Microsoft channel partners can now put it into 32GB Managed Disks and save customers “US$2.18 per VM if you choose to deploy with 32GB Standard Managed OS disk vs. 127GB”.

Windows Server 2012 could be installed onto a 32 GB partition that was an absolute minimum value needed for successful installation. It was providing a  Windows Server Core with IIS and no GUI, which was not very useful.

The new Azure version, though, makes it fit rather well into the tighter partition which makes it an easier sale.

Microsoft partners hold breath over Windows server 2003

Posted on July 15, 2015 by - News

windowscomputexThe date of doom of Windows Server 2003 is nearly here and Microsoft’s partners are worried that millions of customers have left themselves wide open to security breaches.

Some suppliers have more than a third of their customer base on Windows Server 2003 and will wake up and discover they are wide open to hackers..

This is of course an opportunity worth millions to solution providers but so far companies are only nibbling.

Any Server 2003 opportunity goes way beyond an upgrade and many companies will have to take on big projects. Some machines will have to be totally replaced.

Microsoft will no longer issue patches to keep outdated software protected, the risk of a security breach rises. There were 37 critical updates released in 2013 for Server 2003, an average of just more than three per month.

Most suppliers say that they don’t have customers who will not migrate, but some are still dragging their feet. Older applications run on 32-bit architecture and development for many of these applications has been discontinued.

This means that some companies are finding that they cannot run on Server 2008 or Server 2012, which feature 64-bit platforms.

This means a software upgrade which is taking time. All this is happening at a time when companies are broke and their boards will not let IT departments start new projects.

ARM servers are on the rise

Posted on December 16, 2013 by - News

arm_chipThere’s more gloomy news for chip giant Intel.

A report by Digitimes Research estimates that a total of 20,000 units of ARM-based servers ship this year. And while that’s hardly made a dent in Chipzilla’s armour yet, only representing 0.2 percent of that market, that’s set to change.

By 2017 the volume will grow to 1.06 million with a CAGR of 170 percent.

ARM itself thinks that by 2016, chips based on its technology with account for five to 10 percent while that percentage will grow to 10 or 15 points by 2017.

A lot depends, according to Digitimes Research, on support from Microsoft on the Windows Server front.